In an effort to be organised in 2018, I am going to make a concerted effort to make Christmas cards throughout the year so I'm having a break from the 'new' today and have a Christmas card to share with you that was inspired by the following challenges:

The team over at SUO Challenges are inviting cards that fit with the theme of 'Brr! Baby it's cold outside', which I paired with the sketch over at Handstamped Sentiments, a new-to-me challenge and a little dry embossing for Stamps Ink Paper to come up with this cosy little number:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Wrapped In The Warmth of Christmas - I used the sentiment from 'Snowflake Sentiments' as the starting point for my card. I'm so glad this set is on carryover and will be available for a little longer. No snowflakes on this card though - it's all about the warm and cosy! 

A Chunky Knit - I added some great texture with my dry embossed background - a little difficult to see in the photos because of the contrast in colours and I'm a little over-exposed, but it is definitely reminiscent of warm, woollen sweaters which is exactly what I think of when it's cold outside. 

Sweater Weather - I needed a little bit of pattern to bring my elements together and found this piece of retired DSP that was just what I was looking for to complete my card. A few candy dots to finish and my first Christmas card of 2018 is complete! 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Cable Knit Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Banner Triple Punch	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Layering Squares Framelits Dies

Happy Monday everyone! I've had a busy start to my week with deliveries and appointments but did manage to catch up with a couple of friends for a festive afternoon tea, which was lovely. I have a quick card to share with you today  - this one is from one of last month's classes where we were using the Santa's Sleigh bundle. This was our warm up card and features the traditional colours that the Paper Craft Crew are challenging us to use this week:

I got out the washi tape and set to work - here's my card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

O Christmas Tree -  The tree framelit in the Santa's Sleigh Thinlits set makes for an elegant Christmas tree, and does double duty when the negative space is used creatively too. On this card the focal point is the absence of the actual tree, as opposed to the tree itself. 

Warmth and Cheer Washi - Here the tree is decorated with Warmth and Cheer washi tape, simple strips of colour onto the Crumb Cake card base. Perfect within the Garden Green top layer, to add to the feeling of foliage.

And A Star - I finished my card with a stamped sentiment, tied twine bow and a metallic gold star.

A great simple card, easy for mass production - and don't we all need those at this time of year!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

That's all from me; I'll be back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Santa's Sleigh Dies Thinlits	Santa's Sleigh Photopolymer Stamp Set	Warmth & Cheer Designer Washi Tape	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Baker's Twine Trio Pack
Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Garden Green A4 Cardstock	Metallic Enamel Shapes

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the talented Sandy to host this week and she has a fun sketch challenge for you to work with:

 You all know me well enough by now to know how much I love a good sketch and this one is no exception - so many possibilities! I could have stamped the offset panel or featured a designer series paper; unusually for me though, I decided to showcase an embossing folder. Take a look:

Doesn't that look all warm and cosy and remind you of nights in by the fire?!  Here's the low-down on today's card:

Create An Impression With Cable Knit -  For my central panel I embossed a rectangle of Cherry Cobbler cardstock with the Cable Knit Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. This is one of Stampin' Up!'s new Dynamic folders, made to create deep, dimensional embossed impressions and it really does - you can almost feel the knitted stitches in that would-be sweater, the grooves are so deep.

Stitched Wrapped in Warmth - I inked my sentiment, from the Wrapped in Warmth stamp set, using Cherry Cobbler, Delightful Dijon and Basic Black Stampin' Write Markers and added a stitched border using the new Stitched Shape Framelit Dies, before adding a little enamel heart embellishment too. I just love the stitched edging, so effective. 

Warmth and Cheer Colour Combo - The colour combination for my card came right out of the plaid background paper from the Warmth and Cheer paper stack, with its warm red, mustard yellow and basic black. Feel free to save it if it's a favourite of yours too:

A little ribbon and burlap to finish completes my festive, warm and cosy Christmas card.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with Sandy's sketch this week. We are off for our usual Sunday morning of sport, followed by an afternoon of Christmas crafting preparations.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Wrapped In Warmth Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper Stack	Cable Knit Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Delightful Dijon 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Mini Striped Ribbon
5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Regals Enamel Shapes	2015-2017 In Color Stampin' Write Markers
Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker	Cherry Cobbler & Garden Green Stampin' Write Markers

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Jaydee to host this week and she has a great sketch for you to work with:

I decided to combine my card with the challenge over at Merry Monday and use some of the lovely plaids featured in the Warmth and Cheer designer series paper stack. I actually made two cards for today's challenge and couldn't decide which one I liked best, so thought I'd share them both! Here's my first card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Warmth and Cheer - Both of my warm plaids are from the Warmth and Cheer designer series paper pack, which is choc full of great plaid patterns that work for both autumnal and Christmas cards. Here I've combined two of the plaid patterns, each featuring Cherry Cobbler, for my vertical panel and mat. 

Oh What Fun - I was prompted to use this sentiment from the 'Oh What Fun' set following a conversation with one of my team members this week. This set is choc-full of great sentiments and having featured in last year's seasonal catalogue this year has made the transition to the annual catalogue. It was perfect for my card today, allowing me to ink up each half with Delightful Dijon and Cherry Cobbler markers on a 1 3/4" punched circle and separated by a fussy cut Cherry Cobbler banner. 

Dijon Doily - To finish I added a 2015-17 In-Color Doily in Delightful Dijon behind my circle sentiment. I often forget to use doilies yet I like the added detail it adds to my circle here without being overly fussy, clean and simple person that I am! 

Here's the second card that I made - this one has a few less layers and features only one piece of plaid, along with a couple of metallic sequins:

Lastly, here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

So which one of today's cards do you prefer? Do leave me a comment below with your thoughts - I love reading them!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's sketch.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Oh, What Fun Photopolymer Stamp Set	Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper Stack	2015-2017 In Color Doilies	1-3/4" (4.4 Cm) Circle Punch	Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin' Pad
Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Metallics Sequin Assortment

It's Tuesday and today I have a Christmas card for you using this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts:

This is such a great sketch with so many options; I decided today to make a Christmas card that is all about baubles - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Warmth and Cheer - My strips of festive paper come from this season's 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper stack, Warmth and Cheer. A mix of warm reds, greens and yellows, with everything from sweater patterns to plaids, baubles, pine trees and stars, these papers will take your projects from autumn through to winter and the festive season with ease.

Merry Tags Bauble - I took my inspiration from my DSP strips and diecut a bauble in Real Red using the Merry Tags Framelits for the circular element of my card. I stamped my sentiment from the Merriest Wishes stamp set and heat embossed it in black for added shine. I added a Garden Green bow cut using the Perfect Pines Framelits and finished with a metallic enamel shape.

Decorative Stripes - They are very subtle, however if you look closely at my bauble you will see I sponged some diagonal stripes in Real Red ink using one of the Seasonal Decorative Masks onto my bauble before I embossed my sentiment, to echo the stripe of the baubles on the DSP and just add a little extra interest without stamping.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I have another busy day today that will start with the children attending their Speech and Drama exams - wish them luck! I hope your day is a good one too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper Stack	Merry Tags Framelits Dies	Merriest Wishes Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)
Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Seasonal Decorative Masks

Hello everyone! I am still struggling with intermittent blog and website issues, in addition to a lack of email, so please bear with me! If you have emailed me since Saturday I won't have received your message, so I would urge you to give me a call with the details so that I can deal with it for you. 

As promised I have another card for this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenges where the theme is to use the negative space left after making a die cut in a positive way:

Today I have the masculine version that I made for my Dad, who celebrates his birthday today - you can see the feminine version I made for my Mother-in-Law on yesterday's post here if you missed it. Here's today's card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Large Letter Top Tips - I used my Large Letter Framelits again to create the negative die cut space on my card, this time to spell out 'Dad'. I have two 'Top Tips' for you today when using your letter framelits in this way to cut out a word where there are repeated letters - two D's on today's card, for example - and where there are 'gaps':

• In order to ensure all of the letters are aligned horizontally, I like to use a metal ruler. If you are using a magnetic platform in your Big Shot (and if not, why not?!) your ruler will 'stick' to your plate and make it really easy for you to align your framelits. On this card, I lined up the first D and A and cut them, then left the A framelit in place, whilst I moved the D to the end of the word and used my metal ruler to ensure they were level before putting through the Big Shot to cut my final letter.
• Unlike yesterday's card, the letters in DAD have areas of negative space, which when you are reversing them as I am here, you need to retain these pieces and place them in the appropriate place in the negative letter to ensure your space is fully defined. The best way to do this is to place the letter you've cut out into the space, then stick in the smaller pieces, then remove your letter, leaving the smaller pieces behind.

Not Just for Christmas - Today's negative space showcases one of the gorgeous plaid patterns from the Warmth and Cheer DSP stack. These papers are perfect for autumn and festive projects, but also work well for general masculine cards too. I decided to go with the Delightful Dijon/Black colour combo for my card today - the pattern is bold enough to work really well in the negative space of my diecut letters.

Finishing Touches - The 'happy birthday' from 'Guy Greetings' completes my sentiment today, centred and heat embossed in gold with some fine gold thread wrapped around the bottom of the panel. No bows today as I needed this card to be post-friendly - besides, it's a guy card, so no bow required!

My Dad should have received his card in the post today, so happy birthday wishes to him (although he's unlikely to be reading this!)

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any.   

Back tomorrow with a Christmas card for you; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Large Letters Framelits Dies	Magnetic Platform	Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper Stack	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Gold Metallic Thread	Delightful Dijon A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

I've been patiently waiting for my Warmth and Cheer DSP stack to arrive as it wasn't available on preorder here in the UK, so as soon as it got here I couldn't resist opening it and using a couple of identical patterns in two different colourways to make my card for today:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Warmth and Cheer - I'm a big fan of the 6"x6" stacks that Stampin' Up! sells and this one doesn't disappoint. The Warmth and Cheer DSP stack has 24 patterns with everything from sweater patterns to autumnal plaid and Christmas trees to baubles - something for everyone.

My Jolly Friend The Reindeer - I stamped the reindeer from the Jolly Friends stamp set in Memento Black onto Crumb Cake cardstock, before fussy cutting and adorning with a fun knitted bobble hat from the same set. I stamped my hat in Garden Green onto Delightful Dijon cardstock and finished it with a bobble and trim punched in Whisper White and brushed with clear Wink of Stella for sparkle, all punched out with the co-ordinating Jolly Hat Builder Punch. I love it when we have sets that co-ordinate; even better when you can save 10% if you buy the bundle - job done!

Cookie Cutter Christmas - The Jolly Friends set has lots of hats, scarves and accessories to choose from, but no sentiments. I took mine from the the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set as I thought it worked well with my papers and fun reindeer and stamped it in black onto a Whisper White banner.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Jolly Friends Photopolymer Bundle	Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper Stack	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Delightful Dijon A4 Cardstock	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Banner Triple Punch